On board Heesen's reimagined 47m Heesen yacht Odyssea

The couple were under contract for the 44-metre Crescent Custom Yachts Muchos Mas before they came across Odyssea and became smitten, eventually buying her in the spring of 2022. She’s an easy boat to fall in love with, especially once you know her pedigree. And she’s recently undergone a bit of a transition herself, with a major overhaul of her interior headed up by her original designers, Bannenberg & Rowell, and a fresh and modernising paint job.

Odyssea began life as Lady Petra for none other than Frans Heesen, Heesen’s founder and one of the Grand Old Men of modern yachting. He named his prize after his wife but had decorated the yacht in a decidedly masculine way.

A new paint job was just the tip of the iceberg, the real work to be done was in the interior

“She was designed by us back in 2012 with a strong brief from the owner that he wanted a Dutch industrial feel to it,” says Isaac. “The owner was this scion of industry in Holland you know, and he wanted quite a specific and masculine interior. It had a nice sort of architectural theme running throughout, which is something that stood the test of time and something the new owners wanted to retain. But I think you could rightly say the colour scheme was starting to show its age.”

“When I first walked on the boat it had all this Texas orange on it, and I almost walked off immediately. I thought some Longhorn owned her,” says the owner, who is a Texas A&M University alum – a heated, in-state rival of the University of Texas Longhorns.

Prominent among the orange features (most likely linked to her Dutch heritage) was a strip of leather that ran nearly the length of the boat on the main deck. It was meant as a unifying design element and it worked, but it obviously wouldn’t work for the new owners, who wanted it redone in taupe. A serious refit was in order, and it began at a nondescript marina in Genoa. The boat was taken down to the screws and its interiors were sent to Oldenburger in Germany.

“It was an unconventional refit,” remembers Isaac. “The client was in Europe on holiday, and we didn’t want to put it in a refit yard because of the client’s schedule. So that partial strip out in the marina was necessary. Oldenburger came in and took back the dining table, two coffee tables, the interior doors and more.”

The boat was then shipped to Fort Lauderdale, where the remaining part of the refit was to occur at Lauderdale Marine Center, under the watchful eye of Captain Christopher Seago, who acted as project manager; his first time in that role.

“We were really grinding,” he remembers. “Our timeline was compressed. Some of the contractors were there 12 hours a day and we were going seven days a week. Not the crew though, I try to give crew the weekends off to keep them fresh, at least one day if it’s extremely busy.”

One of the first orders of business was to modernise the yacht’s exterior. As launched, Lady Petra had a white hull and, owing to the glass technology of the day, smaller windows than seen on more recently built vessels. With the onset of structural glass as a relatively commonplace material, yachtsmen have grown accustomed to seeing large and unbroken sheets of glass elongating a boat’s profile.

Odyssea had white mullions between her windows, as was common in 2012. To fix this aesthetic problem, the mullions were painted black to blend with the windows. Unless one is up close and looking for them, they are effectively invisible. The new owners also opted to have the hull painted light grey for easier maintenance, according to the captain.

“You want to balance the best parts of the existing design, while not being constrained by it”

However a new paint job was just the tip of the iceberg. The real work to be done was in the interior. As his age progressed, Heesen had mobility issues and used a chair lift on the steps that led from the cockpit to the upper decks.

The lift had been removed, but unsightly aluminium plates over the tracks remained. One thing that was immediately checked off the docket was fairing down the plates, and today they are invisible. As for the new decor, Isaac had strict marching orders.

“Well we had to get the orange out, that’s for sure,” he remembers with a laugh. “But we also needed to take out the industrial finishes, and by that I mean mostly stainless steel. The goal was always to make it softer, more of a haven than it was originally designed to be.”

One place where the “haven” part came into play was at the dining room table in the forward section of the saloon. Originally it was done in high-gloss Macassar ebony. But that wouldn’t fly for the new owners, who along with their three children love to play raucous games of cards. “It gets crazy,” says the owner, “and we needed a material on the table that would be able to stand up to the card games.” It was decided that a large ceramic marble insert would make the table more durable and functional.

Isaac also worked closely with Minotti to install saloon furniture that was less bulky, with a modern, Italian feel. The furniture builder designed multiple full-custom coffee tables for the space. The owners decorated the saloon with their own art choices that reflected their wide travels. A small statue to starboard by the Italian Lorenzo Quinn (son of actor Anthony Quinn) is part of his series The Force of Nature, and features a woman swinging a globe around her.

The other truly striking piece of art in the saloon is the Blue Dog painting on the forward bulwark – the dog’s mesmerising yellow eyes meet yours the moment you step inside. “When it comes to this painting, it’s very much an ‘If you know you know’ type of thing,” says the owner.

Like nearly all the doors on board, those leading from the saloon to the cinema had their stainless-steel inlays replaced with satin wenge, a material Isaac chose because it complements the existing Macassar well. “That decision was one of the most successful elements of the refit,” he says. “It changed the entire look.”

The cinema is a focal point for the family. (The last movie they watched together was Jaws – a fitting choice for people who felt the need for a bigger boat). The sofas in this space were reupholstered, while an unused desk to port was converted into a small sports bar that Isaac says is his favourite spot on the boat.

A Peloton was also installed just behind the desk. Carbon-fibre accents on the bulwarks were also discarded, while stainless steel handrails were covered in taupe leather as well. Just as in the saloon, the cinema went from a near-brutalist vibe to something much more homely.

Odyssea sleeps 12 in six cabins, yet in a rather unusual way. There are four remarkably spacious cabins for a yacht this size on the lower level, and there is another cabin just aft of the cinema on the main deck. Originally the latter space had a twin berth, but during the refit it was given a queen bed, turning it into a VIP of sorts.

You might be wondering where the owner’s cabin is. It’s up top where an upper saloon would normally be. “We don’t miss the sky lounge at all,” says the owner. “In fact if we had one, we probably wouldn’t use the saloon as much, and we love the saloon.”

The happy outcome of a master on the bridge deck, is that there is space to spare. It contains a separate office with a swinging wooden table that used to be stainless steel. Moving aft there is a new bed in the centre of the room.

“The old one was showing its age,” says Isaac. “We also changed every single bulkhead panel, which was all done in orange leather and went to this soft, taupe-y leather, which is much more feminine and relaxing, and in line with the owner’s vision to turn the boat into a haven.”

In the bathroom, doors were rehinged to swing outward, creating much more space. However, one special element in the head was left as is – the shower wall was done in small, wine-cork-like wood cutouts stacked on top of one another, and covered with clear glass. It was an ode to Mr Heesen’s background in joinery, and a nod to Odyssea’s pedigree.

The yacht’s sundeck is a family favourite with a large bar with a new quartzite top underlit by lights that sync to the sound system (the owner says her teenage son can’t get enough of it). A central dining table is where the family takes most of their meals, sitting on brand-new teak chairs. The spa pool was reclad with tiles, and rests underneath a pull-up bar bolted to the hardtop by an interim owner, who was a US Navy Seal (perhaps a story for another day).

As for the current owners, they are very happy with their newly refurbished yacht. But now with a new-found foothold in the superyacht space, is another jump up in size imminent? “We have no intention of going bigger,” says the owner. “There’s nothing we are missing. Everything we want, we’ve got right here.”

First published in the November 2024 issue of BOAT International. Get this magazine sent straight to your door, or subscribe and never miss an issue.